The present invention pertains to the art of domestic appliances and, more specifically, a mechanism for mounting a door of a domestic or household appliance, such as the upper door of a dual oven cooking appliance, which causes the door to swing outward through a simultaneous lifting and pivoting action upon shifting the door from a closed position to an open position.
An oven door for a range or wall oven generally swings downward, about a fixed horizontal pivot axis, from a vertical closed position to a horizontal open position, to allow a customer access an associated cooking cavity. More specifically, to allow for the swinging movement, a bottom portion of the door is pivotally mounted to a pair of fixed, laterally spaced hinge brackets which project outward and establish an axis about which the door is supported for movement relative to the cavity. Typically, below the swinging door is arranged structure which must be cleared upon movement by the door. A sufficient clearance is therefore required below the door to accommodate the bottom part of the door when the door pivots.
The traditional solution is to provide a rather significant space or gap below the door for the required pivoting clearance. For example, in a typical dual cavity range or wall oven having a top cavity including a top door and a bottom cavity with a bottom door, a gap in the order of 16-18 mm is established between the bottom of the top door and a top portion of the bottom door to accommodate the pivoting of the respective doors. A similar gap must be provided below the bottom door. Given that an oven door includes multiple window panels, typically in the form of a window pack mounted between inner and outer door panels, the thickness of an oven door is generally quite thick, typically in the order of 3.5-5 cm. Although the gap below the bottom door may not present an aesthetic problem as it is generally hidden from view by the bottom door, the gap in between the top door and the bottom door (or other structure in a single cavity oven) features prominently and may detract a consumer from an otherwise elegant design of the appliance. That is, the consumer may get a perception of a poor appliance design, as opposed to the intended impression of a high-end, elegant and aesthetically pleasing design.
Based on the above, it is desirable to provide a mechanism for mounting a door of a domestic or household appliance, particularly the upper door of a dual oven range or wall, which will enable a gap below the door to be minimized, while still enabling the door to unobstructively shift between closed and open positions.